139 massacred in Sudan raid

ARMED Nuer tribesmen have killed at least 139 members of a rival tribe in an attack in a remote area of southern Sudan, an official said yesterday.

The Nuer gunmen attacked Dinka cattle herders on Saturday in Tonj East, one of the most remote parts of oil-producing south Sudan, and seized about 5,000 animals, deputy-governor of the surrounding Warrap state Sabino Makana told Reuters. “They killed 139 people and wounded 54. Nobody knows how many attackers were killed. But it may be many as a lot of people came to fight.”

A surge of tribal violence in 2009 resulted in the deaths of about 2,500 people and forced 350,000 to flee their homes in the south, a report by 10 aid groups, including Oxfam, Save the Children and TearFund said yesterday.